Sound of the soul
by Dylan Millwood
Summary: One-shot. Post-Fourth shinobi war. Based off episodes 303-305 of the Naruto Shippuden anime. Of all the people to find as a confidant, she was his...and it was time for one last chat before he left Konoha forever.


Naruto put the Mateki, the Demonic Flute, to his lips and blew in it, starting to play a melody.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Tayuya had acquired a new flute upon reincarnation, after the Oto-nin Quartet's defeat with the Jikūjutsu Shiki: Yomi Tenshin shattered, Naruto had taken possession of it. He had taken a bit of a shine to the instrument and had learned to play it. The sound of it helped sooth him whenever he thought of events in the war against the Uchihas and the Juubi. Of course...the OTHER thing his playing this particular flute did besides making music had scared the crap out of him at first.

After a few notes, he seemed to sense someone behind him and lowered the metal flute from his lips.

"Yo, Shit-head. Who the fuck told you you could stop?" a voice behind him said. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

Tayuya.

The former Oto kunoichi looked the same as always: cream-colored complexion, dark hazel eyes, and long, straight hair the perfect pink color of wild ripe strawberries. She was clad in her "sound ninja" garb, he had to admit that she wore it exceptionally well, with the purple obi twisted and jutting out behind her, the beige dress draping in waves down to her knees, snug black pants underneath her skirt, and standard black shinobi sandals.

If it weren't for the fact that she was transparent, he'd wonder how she'd have been there. Ghosts...he shook his head.

The specter wrapped her arms around his neck as she sat behind him, only able to touch him due to the nature of the Shiki Fūjin having been used on him when he was a newborn. So he could see, hear and touch spirits as easily as the living. "Heh...you know...I love it when you play my flute...it's actually...soothing." she smirked.

Naruto nodded. "I know."

The ghost of the foul-mouthed, redhead shook her head, hard to believe that this was one of the guys she'd had a grudge against.

She noticed he was different now, ebony black hair that still spiked up but had longer bangs, crimson red eyes with dark circles under them and light purple sclerae, and pale-tan skin, he also had the whisker marks were a much darker colour, almost like ink. He wore a white and red kitsune noh mask, but had it off at the moment. As well as a dark blue-grey robe with grey lining and a fur collar, beneath which he wore no shirt, fingerless opera-length black gloves wrapped in studded red-brown leather straps, baggy black pants, and red-brown sandals.

Some of the changes that'd happened to him after the war, she knew that.

"So...word around the graveyards is there's a Hokage inauguration, sure you don't wanna miss it?" Tayuya asked.

Naruto chuckled bitterly "The funny thing is...it's NOT mine, it's _his_." the young man spat.

Tayuya's eyes widened and she cringed. They were giving _THAT_ guy the blond's (or former blond's, as it were) dream right in front of him? Ouch. No wonder he felt the need to talk to somebody.

Uchiha Sasuke being made the Rokudaime Hokage...now that was all KINDS of royally fucked up to Hell and back again. In Naruto's own words, the fact that even after all the death that had been caused by the Uchiha Clan in general as a whole, not just Madara, Sasuke, and Obito, the fact that people were still willing to kiss his ass was idiotic.

Tayuya knew all this...it was the subject of many a rant.

And needless to say, the only one who actually understood why that irritated him rather than seeing that as some petty dislike was the specter of a former enemy spoke of how sad a situation it was.

"You're old boss is serving as his advisor too..." Naruto said with a grim smirk.

WHAT?! OROCHIMARU?! Ok..._THAT_ was shocking!

"Sasuke wanted him in the position, so everyone agreed to it." Naruto sighed.

Tayuya felt her jaw dropping lower and lower at that.

"So what're you gonna do?" she asked at last.

Naruto shrugged, "Leave. Without Kurama sealed and taking up space among my entrails, nobody thinks twice about me anymore. Still...gonna end up the same as you for it, standard operating procedure and all. Been dead before though. Having the Shiki Fūjin ruptured and having something that I had since birth ripped out of me like that killed me. Don't ask me who cast the Rinne Tensei no Jutsu...I was a corpse at the time."

Naruto stood up and slipped the Mateki away within his robe and walked away a bit, then stopped and smiled at her over his shoulder before puting on his mask and walking away, telling her one last thing as he moved away.

"See you on the other side, Tayuya-chan."


End file.
